Then My World Crumbled
by pimpercrombie
Summary: What if Harry had befriended Cedric before the start of his 4th year. Is it just friendship or the start of something more? My little idea of Harry/Cedric fic. I moved the Quidditch World Cup up to the beginning of August so they'd have more time to become friends and making Harry a little more independent and bookish.
1. The Beginning of Summer

AN:I haven't deviated too much from canon in this first chapter so there's a lot of quotes/paraphrasing the last chapter of PoA and the first few chapters of GoF. For the most of the story, 4th year happens the same, so I'll be glossing over a lot of the major events that go the same.

As the Hogwarts Express left Hogsmeade station that morning, Harry watched as the Castle grew smaller. Two months with his relatives was putting Harry in a dour mood.

"Do cheer up, Harry," said Hermione gently.

"I'm alright," responded Harry, "just been thinking about the holidays."

Ron, catching Harry's changing mood, quickly said, "Yeah, me too. Harry, you've got to come and stay with us. I'll fix it up with Mum and Dad, then I'll call you. I know how to use a fellytone now –"

"Telephone, Ron," interupted Hermione. "Honestly, _you_ should take Muggle Studies next year..."

"It's the Quidditch World Cup this summer!" continued Ron, ignoring her. "How about it Harry? Come and stay, and we'll go and see it! Dad can usually get tickets from work."

Harry quickly cheered up at this idea.

"I bet the Dursleys would be glad to let me come...especially after last summer with Aunt Marge."

With the compartment in more cheerful mood, Harry, Ron and Hermione turned to playing games of Exploding Snap and talking about more mundane topics. When the witch with the trolley arrived to ask if they wanted anything around lunch time, Harry eagerly bought a rather large lunch for them all.

Late in the afternoon as the train was approaching London, something arrived to make Harry truly happy...

"Harry," said Hermione suddenly, peering over his shoulder. "is that an owl outside your window?"

Harry turned to look outside where a very small and gray owl was struggling to stay close to the glass. As he looked closer, he realized it was carrying a letter and quickly opened the window to let it fly in. The owl dropped it's letter on Harry's seat and began zooming around their compartment in a delighted manner. Hedwig hooted her disapproval at the little owl and decidedly ignored it. Crookshanks sat up in his seat, following the owl with his great yellow eyes. Ron, noticing this, snatched the owl safely out of harm's way.

Harry picked up the letter. It was addressed to him. Ripping it open, he let out a surprised, "It's from Sirius!"

"What?" Ron and Hermione let out. "Read it aloud!" continued Ron.

 _Dear Harry,_

 _I hope this finds you before you reach your aunt and uncle. I don't know whether they're used to owl post._

 _Buckbeak and I are in hiding. I won't tell you where, in case this owl falls into the wrong hands. I have some doubt about his reliability, but he is the best I could find and he did seem eager for the job._

 _I believe the dementors are still searching from me, but they haven't a hope of finding me here. I am planning to allow some Muggles to glimpse me soon, a long way from Hogwarts so that the security on the castle will be lifted._

 _There is something I never got around to telling you during our brief meeting. It was I who sent you the Firebolt –_

"Ha!" said Hermione triumphantly. "See! I _told_ you it was from him!"

"Yes, but he hadn't jinxed it, had he?" said Ron. "Ouch!" The tiny owl had nibbled his finger in what it seemed to think was an affectionate way.

Harry rolled his eyes and continued to read aloud.

 _I had Crookshanks take the order to the Owl Office for me. I used your name but told them to pay for it from my own Gringotts vault. Please consider it as thirteen birthdays' worth of presents from your godfather._

 _I am enclosing something else for you, which I think will make your next year at Hogwarts more enjoyable._

 _If ever you need me, send word. Your owl will find me._

 _I'll write again soon._

 _Sirius_

Harry looked curiously into the envelope and found another piece of parchment. He read it quickly and felt warmth spread through him.

 _I, Sirius Black, Harry Potter's godfather, hereby give him permission to visit Hogsmeade on weekends._

"That'll be good enough for Dumbledore!" Harry exclaimed. He looked back over Sirius's letter. "Hang on, there's a P.S."

 _I thought your friend Ron might like to keep this owl, as it's my fault he no longer has a rat._

Ron's eyes widened.

"Keep him?" he said uncertainly. He stared down at the owl as he considered it, then held the owl out to Crookshanks to smell. At Crookshanks purr and relaxed state, Ron decided it definitely wasn't another animagus.

"Good enough for me," Ron said happily. "I'll keep him."

Harry kept the letter in hand and read over it again as they pulled into King's Cross station. It was still clutched in his hand as he said his goodbyes to Ron and Hermione and headed towards Uncle Vernon.

"I'll call about the World Cup!" Ron yelled out as they parted.

"What's that?" snarled Uncle Vernon when Harry approached. "Another form for me to sign? You got another thing coming -"

"Oh, it's not," came a cheerful response. "It's a letter from my godfather."

"Godfather!? You don't have a godfather!" Uncle Vernon said.

"Yes, I have. He was my mum and dad's best friend. He's a convicted murderer, but he broke out of wizard prison and is on the run now, but he likes to keep in touch with me. Keep up with my news, check if I'm happy," Harry said with a broad grin at the look of horror on Uncle Vernon's face. Harry turned and made to head for the station exit. Looks like it won't be such a bad summer after all, thought Harry.

And for once, Harry was right. When he and Uncle Vernon got home to Privet Drive, Harry quickly unloaded the car and Uncle Vernon didn't try to stop him as he started to take it all to the smallest bedroom upstairs. Uncle Vernon led Petunia and Dudley into the sitting room, and Harry was sure that he'd be letting them know about his godfather.

The next morning Harry learned that Aunt Petunia and Uncle Vernon had received a letter from Dudley's school nurse about Dudley's enormous size with recommendations of a strict diet. Aunt Petunia had decided that they would all go on a diet then to make it easier for Dudley. As Harry sat down to the kitchen table, Petunia gave him a quarter of a grapefruit, obviously smaller than the chunk of grapefruit Dudley had gotten. This was apparently to keep Dudley's motivation for the diet up by giving him more food than Harry at least, judging by the glee in Dudley's eyes looking at Harry's plate. Harry was glad that he had a stash of food and sweets in his trunk upstairs, and so resigned himself to their behaviour without comment. The Dursley's responded in kind and ignored Harry as much as possible. Not even demanding chores of him. Harry was perfectly content with this arrangement.

The week before his 14th birthday Harry awoke from a dream that seemed so real with his scar hurting. Rubbing his forehead he tried to commit to memory what he had seen.

There had been Voldemort talking with Wormtail and another man he didn't know. And an old man had been found listening outside the room. Harry had seen him get hit with the green light and knew him to be dead. They had been talking about someone they had to kill, but Harry couldn't remember if they had said who...and they had been plotting to kill him!

Harry laid in bed restless thinking about the dream and his scar. The last time his scar had hurt, it was because Voldemort was nearby, but he knew Voldemort couldn't be close now. Could he?

No, this had been something else, he thought. He wished he could talk to somebody about it. Hermione would just tell him to write to Dumbledore and would try to look in books he knew. But what would he write? _Dear Professor Dumbledore, Sorry to bother you, but my scar hurt this morning._ Even he realized how stupid that sounded. Ron wouldn't be of any help and the Weasley's would worry about me too much, thought Harry. He wanted to talk to an adult about it. And that's when he thought of Sirius.

Harry got out of bed and grabbed a quill and parchment to pen a letter to Sirius. It was a slow process as he thought about what to write, but several hours letter he had a letter updating Sirius on what has been going on in Harry's life and at the end had added a short paragraph about his scar hurting after dreaming of Voldemort and asked if cursed scars sometimes hurt afterwards for no reason. It was Neville's birthday today and Hedwig was gone to deliver his gift, so Harry wasn't able to send Sirius his letter right away. Harry spent the next few hours in uneasy sleep.

The next morning after breakfast, Harry went up to his room to send his letter to Sirius. When he walked in Ron's owl flew in through his window with an envelope. Inside was a note. Ron's dad had gotten tickets for the World Cup! The Weasley's were going to come pick Harry up on the 1st, the day after his birthday at 5 o'clock. The World Cup was to be held the next night – Ireland versus Bulgaria. Harry went downstairs to tell the Dursley's the good news. They were happy to be rid of him an entire month early.

Back upstairs, Harry wrote a quick note, _Ron, It's all okay, the muggles say I can come. See you 5 o'clock Monday._ Harry tied the note to Pig's leg. As soon as it was tied on, Pig took off out the window and was out of sight in seconds. Harry turned to the recently returned Hedwig.

"Feeling up to another journey?" he asked her.

Hedwig hooted in cheerful way that Harry took as a yes.

"Can you take this to Sirius for me?" he said, as he added a note to the bottome letting Sirius know that he was going to the World Cup and would be at the Weasley's for the rest of the summer.

Mr. Weasley could not have come soon enough for Harry on Monday. The Dursley's had of course ignored his birthday the day before, but he had received cards and a note from the Weasley's saying that Hermione was arriving at The Burrow that day and so tomorrow when he got there they would do a big birthday dinner with cake for him. Neville had sent him _Curses and Countercurses_ by Professor Vindictus Viridian along with a thank you note for his present. Ron had gotten him a quidditch book, _Flying with The Cannons_ and Hermione had gotten him a book on quidditch tactics.

Shortly before 5 o'clock that day, Harry with his belongings packed into his school trunk sat in the living room waiting for Mr. Weasley to arrive.

"They are going to be driving, of course?" Uncle Vernon demanded.

"Er, I think so," said Harry.

He hadn't really thought of that. He thought Mr. Weasley might just apparate over to pick him up, but Harry wasn't about to mention a magical method of travel to Vernon now, so close to getting out of here. Don't want him to angry when he meets Mr. Weasley.

Harry, not wanting to make the tension any worse, left the room and went to wait on the stairs. Shortly after 5 o'clock there was a knock on the door. Aunt Petunia answered the door and ushered in Mr. Weasley and a tall young man with the Weasley red hair that was long and tied back into a ponytail. Harry didn't know him, but knew he had to be either Bill or Charlie. After they all gathered in the living room.

"I'd like you all to meet my oldest son Bill Weasley," said Arthur. "He agreed to come along and help me apparate Harry's trunk and belongings with us to the Burrow."

"Apparate? You didn't drive here?" Uncle Vernon was quick to demand.

"Oh no, we took the bus here," said Arthur, carefully avoiding saying it was the Knight Bus.

"We know where we are going now though, so we will just apparate back to the Burrow. You ready to go Harry?"

"Of course, Mr. Weasley, my trunk is just there," said Harry pointing to the corner where he had stored his trunk.

"I'll grab that then," came Bill's deep voice.

"Alright, Harry, if you'll grab hold of my arm, we'll be gone," said Arthur turning to face the Dursley's. "It's been a pleasure to meet you Mr. and Mrs. Dursley."

"Bye Uncle Vernon, Aunt Petunia, Dudley," said Harry. And with that, first Bill then Arthur and Harry turned on the spot and disappeared with a soft pop much to the Dursley's surprise.

The next moment, Harry and Arthur appeared outside of the Burrow, Harry gripping Arthur's arm to stay upright.

"Here we are Harry," said Arthur. "Molly is cooking up a feast for your birthday, but I imagine Ron, Hermione, and everybody else are waiting for you in the sitting room."

As they walked into the sitting room, there was a cacophony of "Happy Birthday" shouted from Ron, Ginny, the Twins, Hermione, and even Bill and the last red-head that had to be Charlie.

Harry burst into huge smile, "Thank you everybody."

"Harry," said Ron as he came up beside Harry. "This is my brother Charlie, he works at the dragon reserve in Romania."

"Pleasure to meet you, Harry," said Charlie shaking his hand.

"Great to finally meet you, Charlie," responded Harry.

"We got a full house, so we'll be eating outside tonight," came Arthur's voice from the doorway. "Bill, Charlie, will you come help me set up the tables and chairs."

"Sure thing, Dad" they responded and together they went outside.

After a wonderful dinner, Mrs. Weasley ushered them to bed, "You have to get up at the crack of dawn tomorrow to catch the Portkey to the World Cup so better get to bed early."


	2. Formally Meeting Cedric Diggory

Bright and early the next morning, Harry awoke to Mr. Weasley gently shaking his shoulder, "Wake up, Harry. It's time to get ready."

Harry stumbled out of bed to take a quick shower while Mr. Weasley tried to wake up Ron. When he came back, Ron was just crawling out of bed.

"Better hurry up, Ron," said Harry. "Your dad said we'd be leaving in 15 minutes with or without you."

That got Ron going. Twenty minutes later, Harry, Hermione, Ron, Fred, George, and Ginny followed Mr. Weasley across the yard towards a distant hill.

"We're not walking the whole way to the World Cup, are we?" Harry asked hopefully.

"No, no, that's miles away," said Mr. Weasley. "We just have to walk a short way, then we'll take a portkey. Those are objuects that are used to transport wizards from one spot to another at a prearranged time. You can do large groups at a time that way. We'll be meeting up the Diggory's and taking a portkey from that hill over there on the other side of the village. It's a bit of a hike yet."

They trudged on in silence for a while, still too tired for much talking. As they came to the village, two tall figures were seen walking in from the side. In the early dawn light, Harry recognized Cedric Diggory, a handsome guy, and fellow seeker from Hufflepuff.

"Amos!" said Mr. Weasley, as he strode over to shake the older man's hand. "This is Amos Diggory, everyone, he works at the Ministry as well. And I think you know his son, Cedric."

"Hi," said Cedric, looking around at them all with a smile.

"These all yours Arthur?" said Amos as he took in the group.

"Oh, no, just the red-heads," replied Mr. Weasley. "This is Hermione, friend of Ron's and his other friend, Harry."

"Harry? Harry Potter?" exclaimed Amos as he caught sight of the scar. "Ced's talked about you, of course. Told us all about playing against you last year. I said to him, Ced, that'll be something to tell your grandchildren, that will. You beat Harry Potter!"

Cedric, looking embarrassed, "Dad, I told you, Harry fell off his broom, it was an accident."

But Amos was hearing none of it and continued prattling on about Cedric's win for a moment more.

"We better get going, don't want to miss this portkey," Arthur interrupted.

As he led Amos off towards the hill, the twins following behind ignoring Cedric as they went, and so Harry, Hermione, Ron, Ginny and now Cedric pulled up the rear.

"Sorry about my Dad there Harry," said Cedric. "He tends to go off without really thinking when it comes to quidditch."

"No worry Cedric. And I'm sure you'll have more to tell your grandchildren than a school yard win at quidditch," said Harry with a grin.

Cedric gave a short laugh, "I'd hope so."

"Who are you cheering on to win?" Harry asked to change the subject.

"Ireland, of course. It'll be tough against the Bulgarian's seeker, Viktor Krum. What about you?"

"Er, I guess I'm rooting for Ireland too, but I don't really know much about either team," said Harry.

For the rest of their walk, Ron and Cedric explained to Harry and argued between themselves the pros and cons between the two teams. At the top of the hill Arthur and Amos were waiting with an old boot in their hand.

"Good! Everybody's here, just in time. Only a minute to go before the portkey activates," said Arthur. "Alright gather round, gather round. Make sure you're all touching the portkey, just a finger will do."

Harry reached out and put a finger on the boot, looking around. Cedric shot him a smile as he did the same to his left.

"Alright everybody ready? In three. Three, two, one," said Arthur looking at his watch, and then the world blurred as it began to spin.

The world passed in swirl of color with the wind howling in his ears. Just as suddenly the world stopped spinning and Harry slammed down onto his feet and stumbled backwards. Cedric grabbed a hold of him and steadied him quickly.

"I fell the first few times I took a portkey too, but you'll get better with practice," said Cedric.

"Thanks," muttered Harry as he turned to help Ron up off the ground.

"Seven past five from Stoatshead Hill," said a voice.

Harry turned to see standing in front of them a pair of wizards with a large watch and a scroll of parchment.

"Morning," said the wizard with the watch. "Better clear the platform, have a big group arriving in a couple minutes."

They hurried off the platform and parted ways with the Diggory's to go set up their tent site.

Harry awoke the next day back in the Burrow, hoping it had all been a dream. The dark mark appearing after the World Cup, those Death Eaters marching with the muggles floating in the air. Unfortunately, Harry knew it had really happened and was more determined than ever to be prepared for them. When he went down stairs he found that Mrs. Weasley had laid out sandwich makings in the kitchen. Making a chicken salad sandwich for himself he joined Ron and Hermione who were also eating lunch. The Daily Prophet laid on the table with the headline "Scene of Terror at World Cup" with a picture of the dark mark below.

"Did anybody hear if the Diggory's made it out alright?" Harry suddenly asked.

"No, but I'm sure they will be alright," said Ron.

"Yeah, they probably just took a different portkey than us," said Hermione.

"Yeah, probably," said Harry. "Hey Ron, can I borrow Pig? Hedwig's not back yet and I want to send a letter to Cedric latter to make sure they're alright."

"Yeah, no problem, but I wouldn't worry about them Harry."

Harry wrote a quick note to Cedric after lunch. He thought he should at least check in and let them know that all the Weasleys, Hermione and himself made it out with no injuries. Harry and Ron went flying for the afternoon while Hermione read to relieve some stress.

The night at dinner, Pig came back with a response from Cedric.

"Cedric says they were pretty far away from the commotion and made it out safely. He and Amos grabbed a portkey with some of Amos's friends and floo'd from their house," said Harry to everybody.

"Oh that's good to hear, I didn't see him at the ministry," said Arthur.

Harry was glad to hear it too. He knew it was unreasonable but he had needed to hear from Cedric directly before he was really convinced that they were okay. At Hermione's insistence, she, Harry, and Ron spent the time after breakfast the next day working on their summer homework. After lunch Harry, Ron, Ginny, Fred and George went flying. They tried to get Hermione to join in so they could do some three on three quidditch pickup games with just a quaffle, but Hermione absolutely refused to get on a broom.

"What about Cedric?" asked Harry after they failed to get Hermione on a broom. "He lives pretty close by right? He used the same portkey as us for the Cup."

"Yeah, pretty close -" said one of the twins.

"-just to the south of the village over there" finished the other twin, George Harry thought.

Harry went inside and asked Mrs. Weasley if it was okay to invite Cedric over for a pickup game of quidditch.

"Of course, dear. Cedric is welcome over any time you'd like," said to Mrs. Weasley.

Cedric must have been excited for a chance to play some form of quidditch. Not even a half-hour later, the fire flared green and out stepped Cedric, broom in hand. Harry teamed up with Ron and Cedric and played against Ginny, Fred, and George. Hermione half watched with a passing interest while she read ahead in her school books. A few hours later they all landed in a cheerful mood. As they all relaxed under a nearby tree, Hermione struck up a conversation about school work with Cedric. Harry hadn't understood everything he'd read so far that summer, and took the opportunity to ask questions about it then. Cedric and Hermione were both happy to talk theory with Harry and try teaching him the parts he didn't understand. Fred, George, Ginny and Ron excused themselves and let them talk until Mrs. Weasley called them in for supper.

"I better go, I didn't realize it was so late," said Cedric. "Thank you for having me Mrs. Weasley."

"Anytime dear," she replied. "If you want to stay for dinner there's more than enough for you too."

"Thank you, but I really should get home. My parents are expecting me for dinner."

"Well do come back soon."

Harry and Hermione walked with Cedric over to the fireplace.

"It was a lot of fun today Cedric, I'm really glad you could come over," said Harry. "Hermione is leaving the day after tomorrow, so come back tomorrow so we can finish our discussion."

"Oh that'd be great if you could Cedric, I really enjoyed talking with you," agreed Hermione.

Cedric beamed a smile at them, "I'll see what my parents say, but I'm sure I'll be able to."

After dinner, Ron, Harry, and Hermione went up to Ron's room to relax with some games. After the first round of Exploding Snap, Hedwig flew in carrying Sirius' reply. Harry had been anxious to hear back and quickly ripped open the letter. What he read did nothing to calm his nerves.

"No! He can't come back!" exclaimed Harry, dropping the note as he hurriedly fetched a fresh piece of parchment.

"What? Who's coming back?" asked Ron, befuddled by his friend's sudden actions.

Hermione picked up the letter and quickly read.

 _Harry,  
I'm flying north immediately. This news about your scar on top of all the other rumors I've been hearing - it's a bad sign. If you scar hurts again go straight to Dumbledore. I hear he got Mad-Eye out of retirement so he's reading the signs too.  
I'll be in touch soon, give my best to Ron and Hermione. And Harry, keep your eyes open.  
-Sirius_

"Harry, what's this about your scar hurting?" asked Hermione, perplexed.

Harry had just found quill and paper and froze mid-dip of the quill at that question. Harry hadn't wanted to worry his friends about the dream of Voldemort at the time, but he was getting a sinking feeling that he was about to regret that decision.

"Er- Well, there's something I didn't get a chance to tell you," Harry slowly supplied. "Last week, I woke up to my scar hurting again."

Hermione gasped and went into a frantic, listing off a number of books she needed to reference plus Dumbledore and Madam Pomfrey, the school nurse. Ron just stared at Harry for a time.

"But... _he_ wasn't there, was he? You-Know-Who? Last time your scar hurt, he was _at_ Hogwarts, wasn't he?"

"No, I'm sure he wasn't at Privet Drive," said Harry. "But, just before I woke up I was, dreaming about him...him and Wormtail - er, Peter. I can't remember everything now, but I do know they were plotting to kill someone.

"Well, it was only a dream, a nightmare really," said Ron optimistically.

"Was it though?" said Harry, thinking back on it all. "I mean, first my scar hurts, then a few days later, at the World Cup, Death Eaters are marching and Voldemort's mark is up in the sky again. And remember the end of last year? What Professor Trelawney said?"

Hermione snorted at that, "I wouldn't listen to anything that fraud says."

"It was different this time," Harry said defensively. "She went into a trance - a real one. She said the Dark Lord would rise again because his servant would return to him...and that night Wormtail escaped."

Hermione went silent with a thoughtful look on her face. A moment of silence passed between them before she spoke again.

"Hmm, I guess if she's still a professor she must have given a real prophecy before... Why didn't you tell us before? It's been nearly a week?"

"I knew how you would react and I didn't want you to be worried about me while we were at the World Cup. Besides, I told Sirius -" Harry's eyes went wide. "And now he thinks he has to come back! Because of me! I have to tell him not to come. I have to tell him - tell him that I must have imagined it, my scar hurting, and there's no reason for him to come back."

Harry turned back the parchment he had dug out and began to scribble furiously.

"But Harry," said Hermione. "you know you didn't imagine it. Why would you lie, to Sirius?"

"So what? If he's here, he could be caught by the dementors and it'll be my fault. He is not going back to Azkaban because of me."

"Let it go," said Ron to Hermione as she opened her mouth to argue some more. Harry was grateful when Hermione just sat back in silence and finishing his note he looked to Hedwig, perched in her cage getting some water.

"Well, rest up tonight Hedwig, but first thing in the morning."

AN: A bit shorter than the 1st but I wanted to get it out quickly before I could lose my train of thought. I'll probably be really terrible about updating this from here on, but I'll definitely try to keep at it.

Edit May 19th, 2015: The start of chapter three ended in a weird spot so I decided it would be better as the end for the 2nd.


End file.
